Dispatches From The Seven Kingdoms: Heading to Malta

MDINA, Malta - What day is this? Where am I? I'm a bit wired and confused. Even more than usual. Been traveling for almost 20 hours... After a brief visit to New York, I flew to Dublin, then Frankfurt, then Malta, with some long layovers in between. I can't sleep on planes so I filled the time the way I always do these days: rereading 'A Song of Ice and Fire.' About halfway through my fifth read of 'A Clash of Kings.' It's a good thing I love these books. Still, it might be good for my sanity if I force myself to read something else once in a while - any suggestions, loyal readers?

We'll be shooting material for nine episodes in Malta for several weeks. I'll be here for about three weeks for the first block - Episodes III through VIII (Brian Kirk and Dan Minahan directing). Filming on Episodes I & II continues in Belfast (Tim Van Patten at the helm) and Alan Taylor has begun prep on Episodes IX and X. Needless to say, it's a lot to keep straight.

Today we're in Mdina, the old capital of Malta. We're using this atmospheric, medieval walled city for various exterior scenes set in King's Landing, the capital city of Westeros. I want to be careful to avoid spoilers here, so all I can say is today we're filming an important showdown from Episode V, featuring some impressive swordplay.